ÉIGSE A JOURNAL OF IRISH STUDIES EDITED BY PÁDRAIG A. BREATNACH VOLUME XXXIII PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND 2002 CONTENTS Page THE OLDEST STORY OF THE LAIGIN: OBSERVATIONS ON ORGAIN DENNA RÍG.Tomás Ó Cathasaigh ... ... ... ... ... ... 1 FÉLIRE ÓENGUSSO: PROBLEMS OF DATING A MONUMENT OF OLD IRISH. David N. Dumville ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 19 BAILE IN SCÁIL AND BAILE BRICÍN. Kevin Murray ... ... ... ... ... 49 CARMAN, SITE OF ÓENACH CARMAIN: A PROPOSED LOCATION. Diarmuid Ó Murchadha ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 57 EARLY IRISH CÉIR ‘BEE’S WAX’. Alexander Falileyev ... ... ... 71 ANEW OLD IRISH GLOSS IN A MUNICH MANUSCRIPT. Dáibhí Ó Cróinín ... ... ... ... ... ... ...……………… 75 ASEVENTEENTH-CENTURY ABRIDGEMENT OF BEATHA AODHA RUAIDH UÍ DHOMHNAILL. Pádraig A. Breatnach ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 77 TÉAMAÍ TAIGHDE NUA-GHAEILGE: ERRATA. P. A. Breatnach ... ... 172 GLAC BHEAG FOCAL. Seán Ua Súilleabháin ... ... ... ... ... ... 173 SEANCHAS AR MHUINTIR LAIDHE. Tomás Ó Con Cheanainn ... 179 BRIAN Ó CUÍV (1916-1999). Tomás Ó Con Cheanainn ... ... ... 227 R. A. BREATNACH (1911-2001). Seán Ó Coileáin ... ... ... ... ... 229 LÉIRMHEAS Pádraig Ó Macháin: The Scribe in Eighteenth- and Nineteenth- Century Ireland: Motivations and Milieu (Ní Úrdail) 233; Tomás Ó Con Cheanainn: Stairsheanchas Mhicil Chonraí: Ón Máimín go Ráth Chairn (Ó Giollagáin) 237; T. M. Charles-Edwards: Early Irish Farming: a Study Based Mainly on the Law-Texts of the 7th and 8th Centuries (Kelly) 241; Pádraig P. Ó Néill: Church Organization in Ireland A.D. 650 to 1000 (Etchingham) 243; Thomas Owen Clancy: Conversing with Angels and Ancients: Literary Myths of Medieval Ireland (Nagy) 245; Pádraig P. Ó Néill: A Single Ray of Sun: Religious Speculation in Early Ireland (Carey) 251; The Celtic Monk: Rules and Writings of Early Irish Monks (Ó Maidín) 253; Meidhbhín Ní Úrdail: Béarrach Mná ag Caint (eag. Verling) 255; John Carey: Ireland and Scandinavia in the Early Viking Age (ed. Clarke, Ní Mhaonaigh & Ó Floinn) 258; Caoimhín Breatnach: Celts and Vikings. Proceedings of the Fourth Symposium of Societas Celtologica Nordica (ed. Josephson) 261; Caoimhín Breatnach: Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, Band 48 (1996) 264; Pádraig A. Breatnach: Zeitschrift für Celtische Philologie, Band 49-50 (1997) 265; Pádraig P. Ó Néill: Text and Gloss: Studies in Insular Learning and Literature Presented to Joseph Donovan Pheifer (ed. Conrad- O’Briain, D’Arcy & Scattergood) 268; N. J. A. Williams: Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary (Dwelly); The Essential Gaelic-English Dictionary: a Dictionary for Students and Learners of Scottish Gaelic (Watson) 268. THE OLDEST STORY OF THE LAIGIN: OBSERVATIONS ON ORGAIN DENNA RÍG THE EARLY Irish saga Orgain Denna Ríg ‘The destruction of Dind Ríg’ (henceforth ODR),1 tells how, in prehistoric times, Labraid of Leinster killed Cobthach Cóel, king of Brega, at Dind Ríg (near Leighlinbridge in Co. Carlow), in revenge for the slaying of Labraid’s father and grandfather. It is the origin-legend of the Laigin: in the twelfth-century manuscript Rawlinson B 502 it is the first item in the Scélshenchas Lagen ‘The narrative historical lore of Leinster’, and is described there as cetna scel Lagen 7 tuus a ngliad ‘the oldest story of the Laigin and the beginning of their fights’. Cobthach Cóel and Labraid are remote ancestors respectively of the Uí Néill and the Laigin, and ODR nar- rates the origin and early stages of a feud between them which was to last for many centuries and which is a dominant theme in the abundant early literature of Leinster. The account in Lebor Gabála Éirenn of the events which led to the slaying of Cobthach at Dind Ríg is accompa- nied by the observation Is ó shein ille atá cocad eter Leth Cuind 7 Laigniu ‘it is from that time until now that there is warfare between Conn’s Half and Leinster’ (LL, line 2794). Various events which marked this feud are related in verse as well as prose. Rawlinson B 502 contains a series of poems under the title Laídshenchas Laigen ‘The historical lore of Leinster in verse’, which is the subject of a recent study by Edel Bhreathnach (2000). Poems of this kind also occur in the Book of Leinster: one of them begins with the words Échta Lagen for Leth Cuinn ‘The exploits of Leinster against Conn’s Half’ (LL, lines 6980-7099), an incipit which reflects a Leinster view of the feud. Échta Lagen for Leth Cuinn, which refers to the Laigin as clanna Labrada Longsich ‘Labraid Longsech’s descendants’ (line 6983), begins with Labraid’s slaying of Cobthach i mBrudin Tuamma Tenbath ‘in the Bruiden of Tuaim Tenbath’ and, as Mac Cana (1980:28) has pointed out, seems in its original form to have ended with the victory of the Laigin over the 1 Edited and translated by Stokes (1901). This has been partly superseded by Greene (1955), which is now the standard edition, but it should be noted that Stokes is more generous in the citation of variant readings. Translations in the present arti- cle are my own, except when otherwise stated; references are to the lines of Greene’s edition. The Book of Leinster text is available in the diplomatic edition (LL) Vol V, pp 1192-4; it can also be read online (see note 2). The Rawlinson B 502 text can be consulted in the facsimile (Oxford, 1909). The tale is summarised and partly trans- lated by Dillon (1946), and O’Brien (1954) translates the greater part of it. The text as edited by Greene is discussed and translated into French by Vendryes (1958-9). 2TOMÁS Ó CATHASAIGH invading Uí Néill at the Battle of Allen in 722. In Rawlinson B 502 we are told that Bruiden Tuamma Tenbad was another name for ODR (Greene 1955:17), and in a poem attributed to Ferchertne, and which is included in the saga, Tuaim Tenbath is said to have been the earlier name for Dind Ríg (lines 454-5). In Cath Almaine, the saga dealing with the Battle of Allen, the Uí Néill are entertained on the night before the battle by the royal fool Úa Maigleine, who ‘pro- ceeds to tell them of the battles and contests of Leth Cuinn and the Laigin, from the Destruction of Tuaim Tenbath, that is of Dind Ríg, in which Cobthach Cáel of Brega was slain, up to that time’ (rogab- saide oc innisin chath ocus chomrama Leithe Cuinn ocus Laigen ó Thogail Tuama Tenbath, .i. Denna Ríg, in romarbad Cobthach Cáel- breg conice in n-aimsir-sin, Ó Riain 1978: lines 66-9). This tale, and the events depicted in it, was of crucial significance to the way in which the Laigin saw their early history. ODR is found in three manuscripts, Rawlinson B 502 (R, twelfth century), the Book of Leinster (L, also twelfth century), and YBL (Y, in the part of the manuscript written by Giolla Íosa Mac Fhir Bhisigh about the year 1392). Stokes (1901) made L the basis of his edition, since it is ‘slightly fuller’ than the others. Greene (1955) followed suit, presumably for the same reason, but he adopted a number of readings from R. His editorial policy was to follow one manuscript (in this case L), ‘departing from it only when there was another read- ing which was more archaic or gave better sense’ (1955: p. v). He observed that ‘the three manuscripts point to a common source, although R often diverges verbally from LY in a way which is explic- able only by assuming oral transmission’ (1955:16). Tomás Ó Con- cheanainn (1986), on the other hand, suggests that R is the only independent manuscript of the text, that L was copied from R, and that Y was copied from L but with sporadic readings taken directly from R. I suspect that the filiation of the texts is somewhat more complicated than that, but Ó Concheanainn’s discussion clearly establishes two things: ‘(1) the older character of R as opposed to the later, and closely agreeing, L and Y; (2) the occasional, but striking, agreement of R and Y against L’ (Ó Concheanainn 1986: 16). The relative fullness of L as compared with R arises from the fact that the scribe of the latter includes only the opening phrases of two verse passages that are found in full in L (and Y). As Ó Con- cheanainn observes, ‘the reason for the scribal curtailment was sim- ply economy of effort: the two passages in question are to be found earlier in the MS’ (1986:15). THE OLDEST STORY OF THE LAIGIN 3 ODR is a tale of considerable interest, both for its form and for its content. While Rawlinson B 502 draws a distinction between Scélshenchas and Laídshenchas, ODR is written in a mixture of prose and verse. It is, in fact, a singularly interesting specimen of prosimetrum, and in the latter part of this article I will consider this facet of ODR, and also the rhetoric of the tale, with particular refer- ence to the replication of incidents. First, however, I want to look at the political content of ODR, not, I need hardly say, in relation to actual historical events, but rather with regard to the claims that are made in the tale. It will be useful at this point to give a brief sum- mary of it: Cobthach Cóel, king of Brega, slays his brother Lóegaire Lorc, variously described as king of Leinster and king of Ireland, and Lóegaire’s son Ailill Áine, who became king of Leinster after his father’s death. Cobthach takes the kingship of Leinster for himself, and banishes Ailill’s son Labraid ‘out of Ireland’. Accompanied by the poet Ferchertne and the musician Craiphtine, Labraid goes to the land of Scoriath, king of the Fir Morca in West Munster. Moriath, the king’s daughter, falls in love with Labraid, who wins her by means of Craiphtine’s music, which sends her watchers to sleep.